** Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS<http://in.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ICICIBANK.NS>: 904.9 -23.8) grew its net profit by 16.8% to Rs 1,026 crore for the quarter ended June 2010 riding on lower non-performing assets (NPA) and operating expenses. It had posted a profit of Rs 878 crore in the year-ago period.
However, the bank's total income fell 18.7% to Rs 7,493 crore during the quarter against Rs 9,223 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. "We have now started growing our assets. Even during this quarter, while the growth appears to be only about 7%, our corporate book has grown by almost 30%," MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar said. "There was a healthy growth in home and car disbursements and cash accruals also looked healthy. Approvals will translate into disbursements in the second half of calendar year 2010," she added. The bank is expecting a 20% growth in advances during the current fiscal. Its net non-performing assets decreased 25% to Rs 3,514 crore on June 30, 2010 from Rs 4,667 crore last year, while the net non-performing asset ratio decreased to 1.62% during the reporting period from 2.19% in the year-ago quarter. The bank's provisioning coverage ratio was 64.8% during the period as compared to 51.1% in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. Operating expenses (including direct marketing agency expenses) decreased 2% to Rs 1,461 crore from Rs 1,494 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal while provisions decreased 40% to Rs 798 crore from Rs 1,324 crore. Kochhar said the bank's net interest margin is pegged at 2.8%. She, however, did not reveal the cost of funds and yield on advances. "We would like to maintain our NIM at this level,'' she said. Net interest income of the bank in the reporting period increased marginally to Rs 1,991 crore compared to Rs 1,985 crore in the same quarter a year ago while non-interest income reduced to Rs 1,680 crore from Rs 2,090 crore. Fee income increased 7% to 1,413 crore from 1,319 crore in the year-ago period. Though the bank's total deposits have fallen to Rs 2,00,913 crore during the reporting period as compared to Rs 202,017 crore as on March 31, 2010, its CASA (Current Account and Savings Account) deposits increased 32 % to Rs 84,618 crore as on June 30, 2010 from Rs 63,977 crore last year. "We have reduced our high-cost term deposits in recent months. We would like to grow our deposits again as the demand for resources have gone up," said Kochhar. The bank's loan book increased to Rs 184,378 crore compared to Rs 181,206 crore as on March 31, 2010. ICICI's treasury income, generated mainly from investments in government securities, declined drastically to Rs 104 crore in the quarter as compared to Rs 714 crore in the year-ago period. Capital adequacy stood at 20.2 % while provisioning coverage ratio increased to 64.8 % from 51.1 % in the first quarter last fiscal. The bank will continued to invest in expansion of its branch network to enhance its deposit franchise and create an integrated distribution network for both asset and liability products. "We are yet to finalise how many branch licenses we would seek from the Reserve Bank for this year,'' Kochhar said. ICICI Bank currently has branch network of 2,016 branches. Asked to comment on the delay in acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan, Kochhar said, "Our earlier acquisitions had also taken time to be completed.'' http://in.biz.yahoo.com/100731/50/baw1lg.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
